In industrialized countries, people spend a significant percentage of their day seated in chairs. A common goal in the field of ergonomic seating, particularly office chairs and the like, is to provide an apparatus that improves the occupant's comfort while maintaining the body in a neutral position. To enhance comfort and provide improved ergonomic function, office and task seating typically feature a high degree of adjustability. For example, it is common for office chairs to provide mechanisms for adjusting the seat, the armrests, and the backrest. Increased adjustability ensures a better fit for the occupant while providing adequate support in a variety of sitting postures.
One key aspect of chair mechanics central to chair comfort is the reclining movement of the backrest. An occupant can experience fatigue from sitting in an upright posture for a prolonged period of time even when an occupant is maintaining a neutral position. Further, some occupants simply may prefer to maintain a reclined posture when seated.
Thus, many chairs incorporate an adjustment mechanism allowing the backrest to recline. However, many of these mechanisms have been less than ideal, very cumbersome or not practicable to an occupant. Instead, rather than confront the processes necessary to adjust their chairs to fit the needs of their particular body build, most occupants of chairs use them without making any adjustments. Consequently, any ergonomic advantages that might be delivered by the properly tuned chair are not achieved. Thus, there remains a need for a chair that is reclinable without requiring any substantial effort on the occupant's part to effect the recline adjustment. Further, there is a need for a low-profile stackable chair with such a recline adjustment.